Amazon is Adding Goodreads Ratings to Book Listings

[han_32]

Originally Posted by hleo12

Your post reminded me of this author who also had a similar problem with his goodreads. He casually mentioned that he was considering writing the next entry to his series. After that someone added that planned book to his series on goodreads. He only noticed when he was actually in the process of publishing the book. He contacted goodreads and goodreads basically said they couldn't do anything about it, and they couldn't remove the false book from his author profile.

I am not sure I see why, if he was publishing the book then, he wanted it removed! He wanted a book which was getting published to be removed? Nor do I see what is wrong with goodreads policy or goodread users (librarians is the name for those who can add and edit books).

Goodreads database is not an author's website, and I think if authors saying they are planning to add to a series, it is fair enough to create a record. Creating records, later edited, for not yet written books particularly in series, can help readers keep track of things they want to read. If the author who wanted that book deleted, which he was in the process of publishing deleted, it would likely disappear from the shelves of anybody who might have put it it on their want to read list.

Goodreads can delete some books from public searches but deleting books people list on their shelves is a different matter.

What the author should have done in that case, was ask (and not goodreads, ask in a librarian group) for details of the book to be edited to match what would be published.

Goodreads is a site for readers, and each user can use it as they wish. Top most reviews are often very institutional (because early reviews get an advance in getting attention and those are often ARCs and/or people with many followers who get requests for ARCs accepted) but try sorting by new or filtering by stars.

Authors can give themselves a 5 star review but of course they can do it anywhere with sockpuppets. And an author giving themselves 5 star will be very visible and can be seen as tacky, so their choice.

The real drama about goodreads right now is the god awful new page interface which is dramatically badly designed and hiding so much information. I wonder why they did it and if it is connected to this.

[hleo12]

Originally Posted by han_32

The real drama about goodreads right now is the god awful new page interface which is dramatically badly designed and hiding so much information. I wonder why they did it and if it is connected to this.

That new interface doesn't belong on a computer browser. I keep getting it every week. Thank god it returns to the old interface after a few days.

I hope they reconsider and don't implement it. Everything is unnecessarily huge.

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by han_32

The real drama about goodreads right now is the god awful new page interface which is dramatically badly designed and hiding so much information. I wonder why they did it and if it is connected to this.

YEEEES, I agree.

[meeera]

Originally Posted by Paperbackstash

Goodreads reviews are usually more fair / balanced with a generally lower star rating than the Amazon reviews.

This is exactly as expected even when the same people are reviewing, if they're following the site guidelines. "I like it" is a 4 on Amazon, 3 on GR. "It's okay" is 3 on Amazon, 2 on GR.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by NullNix

De gustibus non est disputandum, but, er, that opinion is not especially widely shared. (Though one or two Banks books are definitely weaker than others. _Consider Phlebas_ is bursting with ideas but is also so damn depressing that I rarely read it. _The Player of Games_ is just *fun*.)

When the first book of a series is just terrible/awful/lousy you don't waste time with any more of the series.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

When the first book of a series is just terrible/awful/lousy you don't waste time with any more of the series.

That is why, of course, you should always start a series with the second or third book. Otherwise you might miss out on a great series. You can always circle back once you’re hooked.

[Pyjam]

Originally Posted by han_32

The real drama about goodreads right now is the god awful new page interface which is dramatically badly designed and hiding so much information. I wonder why they did it and if it is connected to this.

I can’t agree more.
Unfortunately they’re stuborn at Goodreads. It will not change.

[ownedbycats]

Didn't they also ruin IMDB not too long ago?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Didn't they also ruin IMDB not too long ago?

The mobile version of IMDB is atrocious.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Didn't they also ruin IMDB not too long ago?

IMDB started going downhill even longer ago than not too long ago, but after the acquisition. I'm not sure when it hit ruined status because I gave up on it years ago.

They have also ruined DPreview.

[Kusuri]

Originally Posted by Terisa de morgan

perhaps my problem is that they will appear twice....

Thats relative easy fix-able.

1) Get Ublock Origin
2) Go on the Website where it happens
3) Right click on the Spot where the Element is that Amazon (not your addon) adds for the reviews of goodreads
4) Click "block element" / "remove element" (dunno how it is called in english since i use german interface on my computer)

then a new interface opens where you can choose the exact html element you want to automatically remove.. just choose the one that affects the whole box of the reviews, and hit create. then you will have a rule in ublock origin that removes this html element each time you open amazon again.

(you can do the same with all things on websites. especially stuff like buttons etc)

that way you can remove the "amazon version" of the goodreads ratings and leave the ones from your addon there.

[Karellen]

Originally Posted by Kusuri

Thats relative easy fix-able.

1) Get Ublock Origin
2) Go on the Website where it happens
3) Right click on the Spot where the Element is that Amazon (not your addon) adds for the reviews of goodreads
4) Click "block element" / "remove element" (dunno how it is called in english since i use german interface on my computer)

Oh great. I couldn't figure out a way to stop that damn annoying GoodReads pop-up that asks you to login each time you visit. I do have Ublock installed but if I chose disable Javascript, it broke other features on the site like "view book information"

It didn't even cross my mind to check the context menu. Looks like this did the trick.

Thanks

[Kusuri]

Originally Posted by Karellen

Oh great. I couldn't figure out a way to stop that damn annoying GoodReads pop-up that asks you to login each time you visit. I do have Ublock installed but if I chose disable Javascript, it broke other features on the site like "view book information"

It didn't even cross my mind to check the context menu. Looks like this did the trick.

Thanks

you're welcome !


but a warning: some websites who add such a overlay which asks you to login or do something else (accept cookies is often such a case), prevent you from doing what i explained. if you block such a element, you only see a white page or can't scroll anymore since the website "fakes" the actual website content with a image. so if you don't accept their popup / click it away, you can't get past that.. even if you remove the popup or overlay manually.

often it needs a lot of fiddling around with Ublock Origin or stuff like disabling javascript, blocking specific .js files from loading etc.. and in really hardcore cases you need to patch javascript functions with a addon like greasemonkey as an example. but that then needs coding knowledge.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by Kusuri

Thats relative easy fix-able.

1) Get Ublock Origin
2) Go on the Website where it happens
3) Right click on the Spot where the Element is that Amazon (not your addon) adds for the reviews of goodreads
4) Click "block element" / "remove element" (dunno how it is called in english since i use german interface on my computer) ...

I use uBlock Origin constantly for things like this. One of the more annoying things that I was finally was able to get rid of was "Log in with Google" popping up everywhere (why?). Finally got tired enough of it that I "googled" a fix for it, using uBlock Origin.

I just added the following lines to my filters...

||id.google.com^
||accounts.google.com/gsi/$3p

I'm not sure which line actually does it, so I just left both in.

Also got rid of the irritating YouTube Shorts panel at YouTube.

www.youtube.com##ytd-grid-video-renderer:has([href*="shorts"])
www.youtube.com###dismissible:has([href*="shorts"])
http://www.youtube.com##.ytd-rich-se...er.style-scope > .ytd-rich-shelf-renderer

Again, not sure which line did it, so I left them all in the filter. Maybe it needs them all, I don't know.

[ownedbycats]

I use uBlock Origin to get rid of the comments sections of several news sites. Never anything good in there.